Dragon’s Cup 2019 karate tournament held in Belize City

By BBN Staff: On Saturday, three karate academies brought together a total of 51 competitors for the 24th annual end-of-year karate tournament, which was given the name the “Dragon’s Cup 2019.”

The event, held at the Belize Civic Center, featured students from the Red Dragon Martial Arts Academy in Belize City,  La Inmaculada Martial Arts Club in Orange Walk and Kazoku Shotokan Karate Dojo from San Ignacio, Cayo.

Children and adult participants competed in both the Kata (choreographed technique demonstrations) and Kumite (combat sparring) events at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.

Sensei Leon Guild, chief instructor at the Red Dragon Academy, told us today that the tournament serves dual purposes in terms of giving the participants a benchmark for their skills, and to help identify talent who can compete at higher levels.

“Whenever we do tournaments it is always an opportunity for people who are training in karate to evaluate themselves. It gives us the opportunity as instructors to evaluate ourselves and it gives people a chance to evaluate us,” Guild said.

He added that several promising athletes have been identified that will be given the opportunity to compete in regional and international events with an even greater goal in mind.

“We’re already looking at the next Olympic Games in 2024,” Guild said. “If we can get our athletes to compete at that level and see what it is about, then competing and winning in regional competitions will be no problem for them.”

At the end of the event, Kazoku came out on top with a total of 26 medals, Red Dragon came in 2nd with 25 medals and La Inmaculada took 3rd with 16 Medals.

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